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Either you mistakenly believed I was speaking about C++11 specifically and/or you didn't read the accepted answer/response in the Stack Overflow thread. The "a

Either you mistakenly believed I was speaking about C++11 specifically and/or you didn't read the accepted answer/response in the Stack Overflow thread. The "accepted answer" was in a nutshell, 'Learn C++11 if it will get you a job or let you keep your job'. I don't care if people find C++11 more or less interesting than Lisp, Mozart, Agda, or Dylan. That's not the point I was making. The point is that anybody that bases what they learn purely in terms of "minimum effort necessary to keep my job" is not someone I will ever knowingly hire.

mzl 15y ago
Also note that the answer you refer to doesn't say to learn language X if and only if it will let you keep a job/get you a job. It refers specifically to whether one should learn C++11. It says nothing at all about the myriad of fun and interesting languages out there that are worth learning for the sake of learning, of which C++11 might not be one depending on ones world-view.
prodigal_erik 15y ago
By now it's about impossible to learn every language and platform. I prioritize by interesting and mind-bending, and at a glance, C++11 is not markedly better along these dimensions, which leavers it near the bottom of the list—unless somebody is going to pay me because I chose to defer learning everything more rewarding. I don't apply this reasoning to every language (hell, I lurk on LtU), just the most pedestrian and painful ones.
- heretohelp 15y ago
  I'm not explaining myself clearly. Let me make this explicit. Things that are NOT important to me: 1. Knowing every programming language and platform 2. Wanting to know every programming language and platform 3. What programming languages and platforms you think are most important to learn 4. Why you don't like C++11 or think it's not worth learning. Things that ARE important to me: 1. Natural curiosity in those I work with 2. NOT working with people who are lazy and only do the bare minimum to keep a "good enough" job
  - hackinthebochs 15y ago
    The problem is that the choice of language to learn next is not signal for any of those points. With so many languages and platforms, one has to prioritize based on something. Job prospects is a perfectly fine criteria, even for someone who is curious and not lazy. It's a signal for pragmatism, and that's it.

mzl 15y ago

Also note that the answer you refer to doesn't say to learn language X if and only if it will let you keep a job/get you a job. It refers specifically to whether one should learn C++11. It says nothing at all about the myriad of fun and interesting languages out there that are worth learning for the sake of learning, of which C++11 might not be one depending on ones world-view.

prodigal_erik 15y ago

By now it's about impossible to learn every language and platform. I prioritize by interesting and mind-bending, and at a glance, C++11 is not markedly better along these dimensions, which leavers it near the bottom of the list—unless somebody is going to pay me because I chose to defer learning everything more rewarding. I don't apply this reasoning to every language (hell, I lurk on LtU), just the most pedestrian and painful ones.

heretohelp 15y ago
I'm not explaining myself clearly. Let me make this explicit. Things that are NOT important to me: 1. Knowing every programming language and platform 2. Wanting to know every programming language and platform 3. What programming languages and platforms you think are most important to learn 4. Why you don't like C++11 or think it's not worth learning. Things that ARE important to me: 1. Natural curiosity in those I work with 2. NOT working with people who are lazy and only do the bare minimum to keep a "good enough" job
- hackinthebochs 15y ago
  The problem is that the choice of language to learn next is not signal for any of those points. With so many languages and platforms, one has to prioritize based on something. Job prospects is a perfectly fine criteria, even for someone who is curious and not lazy. It's a signal for pragmatism, and that's it.